In a major shot of momentum for the Government of India’s BioE3 mission, German engineering giant Glatt and PreferCo have launched the “PreferCo-Glatt Centre of Excellence for Bioprocess Scale-Up” in Genome Valley at BioAsia 2026 — a move set to sharpen India’s edge in global biomanufacturing.
The Centre, unveiled in the presence of Rashmi Pimpale, CEO of Research and Innovation Circles of Hyderabad (RICH), is dedicated to microbial precision fermentation and engineered to bridge one of the industry’s most persistent gaps: reliable scale-up from laboratory breakthrough to pilot and pre-commercial manufacturing.
At a time when India is racing to convert scientific innovation into globally competitive production, the new facility strengthens the country’s bioprocessing backbone at a critical inflection point.
Built to support scale-up to 1,500-litre bioreactor capacity, the Centre embeds automation, advanced instrumentation and AI-enabled process support into its core architecture. The aim: deeper process insight, higher reproducibility, faster decisions — and dramatically lower technical risk on the road from proof-of-concept to commercialization.
But the impact stretches far beyond biopharmaceuticals. The platform opens scale-up pathways across industrial biotechnology, personal care, wellness and longevity, sustainable materials, functional foods and bio-based chemicals — sectors where microbial precision fermentation is rapidly emerging as a scalable, resource-efficient manufacturing engine.
For startups, academic researchers and established industry players alike, access to high-quality, globally benchmarked infrastructure has long been a bottleneck. By offering advanced fermentation scale-up at accessible price points, the Centre is designed to lower entry barriers not just for Indian innovators but for global companies seeking a commercialization base in India.
The initiative aligns squarely with the Government of India’s BioE3 (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment, and Employment) vision, which calls for innovation-led infrastructure to power domestic biomanufacturing growth. With Glatt’s engineering expertise underpinning the partnership, the facility is positioned among the leading microbial fermentation scale-up platforms worldwide.
Rajiv Bhide, MD, Glatt Systems Pvt. Ltd., underscored the scale of opportunity: “India’s bioeconomy has grown from USD 10 billion in 2014 to USD 166 billion in 2024 and is on track to reach USD 300 billion by 2030. Sustaining this momentum will depend on strengthening the country’s ability to convert scientific capability into reliable, large-scale manufacturing.
"The Centre of Excellence has been established to support this next phase of growth. By providing a dedicated platform for structured fermentation scale-up, supported by advanced engineering and integrated digital systems, it enables technologies to be validated and industrialized on a robust technology platform. Such infrastructure is essential to building a competitive biomanufacturing ecosystem- one that can consistently deliver high-value, fermentation-based products for both Indian and global markets.”
